New Mexico State basketball: Aggies hope to get their ‘pop’ back before CUSA play

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Jason Hooten wants something from New Mexico State.

Specifically, the Aggies’ coach wants his team to get their “pop” back.

It’s been an up-and-down non-conference slate for NM State (5-6). The Aggies started the season 3-0 with wins against New Mexico Highlands, Utah Tech and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi, but lost the next five in succeeding games against Dayton and UNLV on the road, Pepperdine and Bowling Green at a Tempe, Ariz. neutral site and Abilene Christian at home. An emphatic road 89-83 overtime victory against rival New Mexico followed before the fire was starkly quenched after a 91-67 road thumping to Texas.

NM State got back in the win column with Monday’s 72-69 victory over Southern Utah. The Aggies now have two games left before Conference USA play begins, both home affairs against NAIA schools. The first is against Northern New Mexico (4-15) at 7 p.m. Thursday, and the second features the University of the Southwest (7-4) traveling from Hobbs to the Pan American Center at 2 p.m. on Dec. 28.

What does a “pop” look like to the man effectively known as “The Sheriff” by Aggies fans? It’s just about taking every game seriously and playing hard, regardless of if it’s a Division I or NAIA team.

“I’ve lost to teams like that before in my career,” Hooten said. “You don’t ever take people for granted. We know these are going to beat tough games.”

More: New Mexico State football transfer portal tracker: Who’s in, out for the Aggies?

NNM and Southwest should provide a smooth landing to NM State’s tough non-conference schedule. Dayton is currently ranked No. 24 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, Southern Utah and Abilene Christian are the top two teams in the Western Athletic Conference standings, New Mexico sits third in the Mountain West standings and playing a team like Texas on the road is always difficult. TAMU-CC, UNLV and Pepperdine are ranked above the Aggies in the NCAA’s NET rankings also.

Hooten isn’t taking either of them lightly though, specifically the former. The…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/mexico-state-basketball-aggies-hope-173356225.html

Author : Las Cruces Sun-News

Publish date : 2024-12-19 17:33:00

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